IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/enp/wpaper/eprg1905.html

Ownership Unbundling of Electricity Distribution Networks

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Nillesen

    (Strategy& (part of PwC) Dansk Energi, PwC, Cambridge University)

  • Michael G. Pollitt

    (Energy Policy Research Group, Judge Business School University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Traditional restructuring of power markets has focused on legally separating monopolistic transmission and distribution infrastructure with sufficient regulatory oversight to ensure non-discriminatory access to networks, and transparent and cost-reflective tariffs. There is consensus that ownership separation for transmission assets is beneficial for competition and transparency. However, at the distribution level the benefits of going beyond legal unbundling are questionable. This paper reviews the theoretical arguments for ownership unbundling and summarises the findings from 23 academic papers and consulting reports. In addition, this paper empirically demonstrates that forced distribution ownership unbundling in New Zealand (from 1998) and the Netherlands (from 2009) did not increase retail competition and did not increase network quality. It resulted in significant one-off and structural costs. The combination of increasingly active distribution networks with bi-directional power flows from distributed renewables, in combination with the digitalisation of energy supply and creation of distribution data platforms, suggests that interaction between networks and customers, traditionally separated from a regulatory and competition perspective may become more interlinked in future. Policymakers should therefore assess a broader set of policy measures, taking into account this changing network landscape, when focusing on increasing retail competition and network quality.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Nillesen & Michael G. Pollitt, 2019. "Ownership Unbundling of Electricity Distribution Networks," Working Papers EPRG 1905, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:enp:wpaper:eprg1905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/eprg-wp1905.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rabindra Nepal & John Foster & Antonio Carvalho, 2014. "Revisiting Electricity Liberalization and Security of Supply: Empirical Evidence," Energy Economics and Management Group Working Papers 7-2014, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    2. Paul Simshauser, 2020. "Merchant utilities and boundaries of the firm: vertical integration in energy-only markets," Working Papers EPRG2008, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    3. Pedro H. Perico E Santos & Olivier Massol, 2022. "Electricity Distribution Systems in Europe : An Overview of Contemporary Regulatory Challenges," Working Papers hal-03897936, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:enp:wpaper:eprg1905. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ruth Newman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jicamuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.